ARTICLES ABOUT PREMIUM BY DATE - PAGE 2

MILAN: Italy's Pirelli, the world's fifth-largest tyremaker , on Thursday forecast an 11 per cent rise in 2015 operating profit after last year's earnings met expectations as strong sales of premium tyres offset weakness in Latin America. Pirelli, which makes tyres for motorcycles, cars and Formula 1 racing cars , expects to grow revenues by up to 6.5 per cent to around 6.4 billion euros ($7.30 billion) this year. It forecast earnings before interest and tax, after restructuring costs, of around 930 million euros, while investments are seen at below 400 million euros.

NEW DELHI: Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), the country's largest insurer, has seen its market share slip to 70 per cent this fiscal as its new business premium shrunk by over 21 per cent in April-December period. LIC garnered new premium of Rs 51,667.07 crore during the first three quarters of 2014-15 as against Rs 65,774.47 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal, a decline of 21.4 per cent. As a result, market share of the insurance behemoth came down to 70 per cent as against over 75 per cent at the end of last fiscal 2013-14.

KOLKATA: Godrej Appliances, a key division of Godrej & Boyce Mfg Co Ltd today said it is aiming to double its revenue from premium category products in the next one year. "Our revenue from premium segment products is ten per cent of sales and in one year we are looking at increasing it to 20 per cent," Godrej appliances business head Kamal Nandi said. He said there were several premium products lined up from its basket over the next one year to fuel the segment. The company, currently positioned in the mass-premium segment, would continue to harness the Godrej brand, even in the premium segment.

MUMBAI: Life Insurance Corporation's (LIC) premium collections declined 21 per cent in the first nine months ended December 2014, resulting in a sharp fall in their market share to 70 per cent from 77 per cent in the corresponding period. However, the management is confident of higher premium collections in the fourth quarter. "We are sure that the fourth quarter will be brilliant for LIC. We have seen an 180 per cent growth in premium collections in January and 161 per cent in February," SK Roy , chairman of LIC, country's largest life insurer, told ET. He indicated that LIC's strength lies in traditional products — where returns are linked to the bonus — which is expected to be in demand in the fourth quarter.

New York-based premium watch brand Bulova made its India debut on Thursday in an exclusive sales tie-up with online retailer Amazon.in. Bulova is offering a selection of watches across its Automatic , Classic , Diamond , Marine Star , Precisionist and Caravelle range in India. "India is one of the fastest growing economies and we are delighted to launch the brand online in order to provide maximum possible reach," said June Rhee, vice-president-Asia Pacific at Bulova.

The tide seems to be turning for Hero MotoCorp, India's largest motorcycle maker. Factors such as decent volume growth on high base, higher rural penetration and scope of margin expansion supported its premium valuation so far.However, moderating volume growth and shrinking margins are turning investors chary . This would lead to cloudy earnings growth; hence the stock's under-performance is likely to continue in the medium term. Investors were keenly looking for the margin improvement in the December quarter, but it proved to be a major disappoint ment.

MUMBAI: With finances in doldrums but not keen to tax citizens more, the Maharashtra government has turned its attention on cash-rich builders for augmenting its resources. The state government is on the verge of tweaking an old scheme that the state believes have helped builders earn huge profits at the expense of the state. The government is on the verge of okaying a proposal where builders in Mumbai would henceforth have to pay a premium for utilising the extra Floor Space Index (FSI)

NEW YORK: Coke is coming out with premium milk that has more protein and less sugar than regular. And it's betting people will pay twice as much for it. The national rollout of Fairlife over the next several weeks is one way the world's biggest beverage maker is seeking to diversify its offerings as Americans continue turning away from soft drinks. It also comes as people increasingly seek out some type of functional boost from their foods and drinks, whether it's more fiber, antioxidants or protein.

Buying a term plan online used to be child's play. Not any more. Now, given the complicated payout choices on offer, you can go horribly wrong. Some of the options are quite a rip-off, though they might appear very attractive to the buyer. For instance, the return of premium plans, which give back the entire premium paid if the policyholder survives the term. The premium for such a plan will be much higher than what one would pay for a regular term policy. ET Wealth looks at three such term plan variants that don't really add value to the buyer.

NEW DELHI: After rallying 30 percent in the calendar year 2014, the S&P BSE Sensex surged over 7 per cent or 2,000 points so far in the first month of calendar year 2015, pushing the index to yet another record high. Even after a strong rally, the Indian market still looks reasonable valued at current levels, and some experts even feel that it is the best market for institutional investors to diversify their portfolio. From a macro perspective, India has never had it better in terms of inflation trajectory -- well below the targeted rate.